Contents

History

Early Years

Not too much is known about Deadpool's childhood. At some point of his life, Wade Wilson joined Project X.[1]

Little is known of Wilson's subsequent mercenary activities. At one point he was active in Tangier, Morocco where he romanced a woman named Francie. When this relationship soured, he traveled throughout Asia, and was hired in Japan by a crime lord, the Boss, to infiltrate a sumo-wrestling ring owned by a rival criminal, the Oyakata. Wilson spent three years as a wrestler under the Oyakata's tutelage and became romantically involved with his Mentor’s daughter, Sazae. When the Boss finally ordered the Oyakata's murder, Wilson refused to complete his assignment, allegedly the first time he had ever done so, and relocated to the United States.[7]

In America, Wade met and fell in love with mutant teenage prostitute Vanessa Carlysle, with whom he shared dreams of a better life. Wilson was subsequently hired by Middle Eastern interests to assassinate a blind British Government operative named Althea, also known as Blind Al. Upon arrival at the Zaire base where she was stationed, he killed everyone except for Al who had fled.

Wilson’s employers sought vengeance for his failure by targeting Vanessa, who was rescued by Zoe Culloden, an employee of the inter-dimensional firm Landau, Luckman, Lake, and LeQuare. Culloden was keeping Wilson under surveillance, believing he was destined to play a vital part in a potential threat to the World. Learning that he had contracted cancer, Wilson broke up with his girlfriend Vanessa rather than force her to remain with a terminally ill man. He even gave up his chemo treatments, not wishing to prolong things.

Weapon X

Back in Canada, he was offered hope in the form of Department K, a special weapons development branch of the Canadian government. Wilson became a test subject in Department K’s branch of the joint U.S./Canadian superhuman enhancement project, the Weapon X Program; his cancer was temporarily arrested via the implantation of a healing factor derived from another Department K agent, the mutant adventurer Wolverine.

Wilson was active in a covert field unit alongside the near-invulnerable Sluggo and the cyborgs Kane and Slayback. Vanessa herself was later affiliated with the team after having manifested mutant shapeshifting abilities, calling herself Copycat.

During one mission, Wilson killed his teammate Slayback. As a result, he was rejected from the Weapon X Program and sent to the Hospice, allegedly a government facility where failed superhuman operatives were treated. However, unknown to the Canadian government, the Hospice’s patients served as experimental subjects for Doctor Killebrew and his sadistic assistant Ajax (known then as The Attendant), with the patients placing bets in a "deadpool" as to how long each subject would live. Killebrew subjected Wilson to various torturous experiments for his own deranged satisfaction.

In due course, Wilson formed a romantic relationship with the cosmic entity Death, who regarded him as a kindred spirit. Wilson started trying to kill himself, to join Death - going so far as to start taunting Ajax by saying his real name (Francis) over and over, which earned him the respect of his fellow Hospice patients. Then Ajax, angered by Wilson’s taunts, lobotomized Worm, the closest thing Wilson had to a friend. At Death’s prompting, Wilson killed Worm to end his suffering.

Early art of Deadpool's scars

However, under Killebrew's rules, any patient who killed another was to be executed; Ajax subsequently tore out Wilson’s heart and left him for dead, but Wilson’s thirst for vengeance was so strong that it jump started his healing factor, regenerating his heart, although not curing his scarred body. Wilson then escaped the now-empty room and attacked the guards, making his way to Ajax. Wilson shot him in the chest with two automatic rifles, leaving him for dead. Taking the name Deadpool, he escaped from the Hospice with his fellow patients.

Mercenary

Following his escape, Deadpool served for a time as an enforcer alongside the surgically altered criminal Hammerhead. He soon returned to his freelance mercenary activities, donning a costume in keeping with his new identity. At some point during his mercenary career, he was employed as an assassin by Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime. He also clashed with Wolverine, at that time a spy for the Canadian government. At some point during these years, Deadpool caught up with Blind Al and kept her a prisoner in his home. Al’s attempts to escape only resulted in death for those whose help she sought, leaving her no choice but to resign herself to captivity.

Some years after escaping the Hospice, Deadpool, perhaps seeking compensation for the injuries inflicted upon him by Killebrew, returned to the Canadian government and was treated by Doctor Walter Langkowski, the bestial Sasquatch of Canada’s super-team Alpha Flight. He also acquired a teleportation device around this time.

Deadpool soon found government work unsuited to his temperament, and he abandoned this endeavor. Hired by the criminal genius known as The Wizard, Deadpool at first went to the wrong address and received a job impersonating the criminal Hobgoblin. When again contacted by The Wizard, he joined with fellow criminals the Taskmaster and the Constrictor (Frank Schlichting) in a short-lived version of the Frightful Four.

When this plan also failed, Deadpool sought to reclaim his position as the Kingpin’s assassin, only to be challenged by fellow assassin Bullseye. Deadpool began frequenting the mercenary hangout called the Hellhouse, where the diminutive Patch issued assignments. There he routinely clashed with T-Ray, a voodoo-sorcerer and assassin of whom he maintained a constant dislike. He found employment with the time-traveling arms merchant Tolliver, in whose service he was reunited with Sluggo and Copycat. Unknown to Deadpool, Tolliver subsequently sent Copycat to impersonate another mutant mercenary, Domino. Deadpool also recruited a man named Weasel to act as his weapon supplier, and the two became fast friends, despite numerous acts of violence against him.

Katana

After some time in Tolliver’s service, Deadpool was sent to kill Cable, the mutant soldier from the future who was in fact Tolliver’s father and in whose company Copycat was impersonating Domino. However, Deadpool met defeat at the hands of Cable and his new charges, the young mutants in training known as the New Mutants.[8] When Cable reorganized the New Mutants as X-Force, Tolliver was seemingly slain in battle with them, setting off a search by his various mercenaries for the advanced technology he had left behind. Deadpool’s participation in the search was interrupted by the surprising interference of Slayback, who had cybernetically reconstituted himself after being slain by Deadpool and was eager for revenge. In the course of the ensuing battle, Copycat was gravely injured, and Deadpool sacrificed part of his healing ability to save her life.[9]

Deadpool helped X-Force member Siryn against the Juggernaut and her uncle, Black Tom Cassidy, who had forced Killebrew into their service. Deadpool developed a strong attachment to Siryn, who only partially returned his feelings.

The Genesis Coalition hired Deadpool to capture Silver Sable - a mission that also threw him into battle against Daredevil, whom was then no longer going by his real identity. He took the fight to the sewers where he was 'convinced' to hand over the information regarding his mission, for triple his commission. He was also put on retainer, in case he thought about choosing to take a mission against Sable's interests again.

Unsure of his worthiness, Deadpool sought out Copycat, only to find she was now dating Kane. Deadpool fought both Kane and Wolverine, who had been sent to check on Kane by a mutual friend. Deadpool was subsequently abducted by information brokers seeking a cure for the Legacy Virus but was rescued by Wolverine and the mutant mercenary Maverick.

Due to having being cured from cancer, Deadpool caught the attention of a former Department K member Butler. The Butler contacted Deadpool, who would provide tissues and blood samples "for the orphans."[10][11] The Butler would sometimes need Wade on-site for longer stretches, for which Deadpool sometimes used to be kept sedated under simulations, explaining why Wade's memory would malfunction in the future.[10] During that time, the Butler also used mind-wipe drugs to manipulate Deadpool into doing his bidding. To test how far could he push Deadpool, the Butler sent Wilson to kill his parents.[11]

Wade ultimately grew tired of Butler's experiments, and quit the program. However, over the next years, the Bulter would periodically assault Deadpool during his sleep, or after drugging him, to keep collecting samples for his work.[10]

Mithras

Deadpool was approached by Zoe Culloden of the rechristened Landau, Luckman & Lake who believed he was destined to be the Mithras, one who would help usher in a golden age for Earth. Skeptical, Deadpool turned Zoe away, only to be hit with a string of personal failures. These included the alienation of Weasel and Blind Al (whom had been meeting, against Deadpool’s instructions), a defeat at the hands of T-Ray, and loss of good grace at Hellhouse.

He met up with Bullseye to do a pro-bono job in Greece, where the assassin told him that he was losing his edge - as shown by the fact he only wounded the people he was supposed to be killing. Deadpool disputed the fact, even going as far as to accuse the now-dead guards of moving the castle he was supposed to blow up with a sheep-rocket, when he hit the tower instead. Bullseye told Deadpool that he wouldn't kill him for one reason - he made him laugh. At this point, it was revealed that they had worked together before, in the Army - where Bullseye nearly lost his pinky toe because they were laughing so much on a mission.

Hoping to turn over a new leaf, he found that killing was not so easily left behind when, at the behest of the ghosts of his fellow former Weapon X inmates, he killed Ajax. The former Attendant had been tracking down and killing them all, one by one, mainly wanting to kill Deadpool. This was possible partly due to the help of Dr. Killbrew, who lost his life to Ajax. Before he was remotely-kidnapped by his teleportation belt and Ajax, he told Blind Al that she was now free.

After being employed by L, L & Lake, he was hired to be part of a Heroes for Hire mission, much to the annoyance of Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. When he found that he would have to climb a mountain to their castle destination - and that HFH lacked a flier - he teleported up instead. He was immediately seen at the top, losing the essence of surprise. The HFH attacked, finding an iteration of Wild Pack waiting for them. After the rest of Heroes for Hire were defeated, Deadpool teleported to safety. Later Deadpool located and freed Misty and Colleen from the room they were being held in by Madcap, bringing their weapons to them as well. When asked where he concealed them, he replied with "Do you reeeeally want to know? It involves an awful lot of lubricant." Deadpool and the girls then met up with Luke Cage who turned out to be working toward an alternate agenda. Claiming he could smell a traitor when he saw one, Deadpool opened fire. Cage managed to escape minutes later.

Deadpool acknowledges his existence in a comic book.

Continued Mercenary Life

Having lost his optimism toward being able to better himself, Deadpool returned to his mercenary life. Troubled by recent events, he sought the counsel of deranged psychiatrist Doctor Bong, who advised him to work out his difficulties in a fight with Wolverine. The fight indeed cleared Deadpool's mind, but his psyche was dealt a stunning blow by the resurrection of Mercedes Wilson whom Deadpool still believed to be his wife. T-Ray revealed himself not only as the one responsible for her resurrection, but also as the "true" Wade Wilson. The revelation did not break Deadpool’s spirit as T-Ray had hoped, for the mercenary still harbored hopes of bettering himself. Swearing vengeance, T-Ray departed with Mercedes Wilson.

In the course of an assassination assignment against author Duncan Vess, Deadpool again clashed with Wolverine who had sensed something strange about Vess. The pair found themselves battling Vess’ vengeful kinsmen after the author was revealed to be a werewolf, and they parted on good terms. Weeks later, Deadpool would be forced to capture Wolverine in exchange for medical treatment for Siryn, who had been injured in a mission with X-Force. Siryn was cured, and Wolverine easily outfought his captors.

Seeking a new place for himself, Deadpool briefly shared an apartment with fellow mercenaries Titania and the Constrictor. However, Titania proved to be Copycat in disguise, and the apartment was destroyed by the The Wizard and the Taskmaster, both seeking revenge on Deadpool. He then established a secret warehouse headquarters and took on a young sidekick who called himself Kid Deadpool (Chris Cassera). Sadly, the youth was also seeking vengeance against Deadpool for his part in Cassera's father’s death, and blew up the warehouse.

Deadpool breaking the fourth wall, again

Deadpool was tracked down by Sabretooth and invited to join a new Weapon X Program. Impressed by Weapon X’s upgrade to his healing factor, he agreed to join, but soon found the organization’s methods to be too bloody, even for him.[12] After the death of Copycat at the hands of Sabretooth, he confronted the Director, only to have his healing factor reversed to the point where he again lost physical cohesion and died. The lingering effects of Deadpool’s healing factor upgrade resurrected him, leaving him an amnesiac. A chance encounter with Weasel later restored his memory, and he discovered that four other individuals had laid claim to the Deadpool name in his absence. These impostors were aspects of his own personality given form by a device called the Gemini Star, wielded by T-Ray, who had been hired by the intergalactic villain Thanos. Thanos himself was enamored of Death and became jealous of Deadpool’s relationship with her. T-Ray intended to use the Gemini Star to manifest and extinguish every aspect of Deadpool’s personality, leaving him an empty shell; however Deadpool damaged the device, causing his personality fragments to be absorbed into T-Ray and render Ray comatose. With T-Ray out of the way, Deadpool claimed his identity as the true Wade Wilson once again.

Agent X

Following an assignment to kill the Four Winds crime family, Deadpool gained prominent status as a mercenary and formed a company called DP, Inc., aided by business partner Sandi Brandenberg. His success was short-lived, however, when the Black Swan, a fellow assassin who had actually slain the Four Winds himself, sought vengeance for Deadpool’s wrongful claim. Both men were believed dead after an explosive confrontation, but the Swan’s telepathic power caused the memories and skills of both himself and Deadpool to merge into the corpse of his underling Nijo. Deadpool’s healing factor resurrected Nijo, whose mind was created from an amalgam of Deadpool and the Swan. Injured and an amnesiac, Nijo found his way to Sandi’s apartment. Sandi believed Nijo to be Deadpool and nursed him back to health.

The man took the name Alex Hayden and together they started "Agency X", with Hayden dubbed Agent X after the company. Most believed that Hayden was Deadpool with a case of amnesia. The truth was discovered when the Black Swan showed up with a "tabula rasa" Deadpool in tow, who Hayden immediately shot in the head. Deadpool's own personality was slowly growing back, unwittingly accelerated by Hayden's bullet to his head.

You and Wilson have my skills, Mr Hayden. In return, I received a taste for Radiohead and an encyclopedic knowledge of pornographic knock-knock jokes. Yes, I'd like to switch back if possible.

In an attempt to regain the parts of his mind he had lost, as well as remove the pieces of their minds he wanted rid of, Swan proposed a three-way mind meld. Hayden agreed; however the Swan, being an evil cad, attempted to double cross the others and kill them as soon as the process was complete, but while he concentrated on Hayden, Deadpool stabbed him in the back. Deadpool, Hayden and Hayden's allies Outlaw and Taskmaster had the Swan stuffed so that the healing factor couldn't resurrect him. (Hayden would later use the corpse as a surfboard).[13]

With Cable

Both Deadpool and Cable became involved with a terrorist plot aimed at unleashing the shape-shifting "Façade Virus" upon the world. Both were infected with the virus, with merging their DNA structures being the only way they could survive. As a result, each man had some of the other's DNA sequences within them. From then on, whenever Cable used his teleporter to "bodyslide", both he and Deadpool teleported together -- sometimes literally (a "bodyslide by one" resulted in them being badly integrated into a single body, forcing a messy separation, which, thanks to the DNA shared with Wade, Cable was also able to recover from). An additional result of the Façade Virus in his system was that Deadpool's skin was temporarily cured of the hideous tumor-scarring. This result was corrected when Cable shut down all infections of the virus worldwide.

Cable & Deadpool

Cable was achieving the peak of his abilities, seeking to become a world leader ushering a new era of peace. Cyclops worried about his son, and hired Wade to find and assemble pieces of a teleporter meant to stop Cable if it came to that. In an attempt to unite the world, Cable deliberately set the world's leaders against him, by threatening to throw their missiles into the sun. Deadpool and the X-Men mounted their attack on Providence, whereupon Deadpool promptly turned on the X-Men, siding with Cable. Cable confessed to wanting to become a martyr, to show the governments that they could achieve something by working together.

In an attack by the Silver Surfer, Cable burnt out his powers and narrowly escaped death when Deadpool removed the telepathic and telekinetic parts of his brain via mini-teleporter. Cable was badly injured, and Wade then set out to recover some techno-organic matter to replace the damage. Deadpool encountered Agent X and the Fixer during his mission and was ultimately successful, which sadly left him unemployed thereafter. Cable felt guilty for Deadpool's status as a renegade mercenary being corrupted by his heroism, and began to covertly hire him for missions, without revealing that he was the one doing so.

Deadpool would later rescue Cable again, teleporting through several alternate worlds to retrieve him when he became lost.[14] Cable returned the favor by repairing Deadpool's brain damage before his powers burnt out once more, leaving his personality and powers unchanged.

As the super-hero registration act (HR421) came into law, Deadpool decided to try and get hired to be a S.H.I.E.L.D.-licensed bounty hunter, hunting down super-powered individuals to get them to register with S.H.I.E.L.D. His initial attempts were unsuccessful, but he was hired nonetheless, being ordered by the president to hunt Cable. Wade was unsuccessful.[15]

Trying to fix his again damaged reputation, Deadpool kidnapped Taskmaster and forced him to fight to convince four Government higher-ups (who were also kidnapped) to hire him again. Deadpool won the fight, but wasn't hired, being cited as too immature.[16]

Deadpool awoke days later to find that he had been shrunk with Pym Particles by Weasel, who was attempting to help Wade take on the Rhino. Deadpool tried, and was instead made into a key-chain and taken to the Three Strikes Bar, where he was humiliated repeatedly. After being flushed down a toilet, Deadpool managed to return and beat up each and every one of them, including Rhino - whilst still only a few inches high.[17]

Agent X was captured by Hydra, and Deadpool was approached by Agency X to find and rescue him. Still only inches tall, Deadpool went with Weasel to the Hydra base in Afghanistan, where they met Bob, Agent of Hydra, and used him to free Agent X (who had been turned into a 500 pound slob by Hydra's Morphogenetic Actuator). Deadpool was changed back to normal size in the process and was asked to take over Agency X whilst Nijo got back into shape.

Deadpool and Agent X.

Returning to Agency X, they found that Outlaw and Sandi had been taken hostage by T-Ray. Deadpool was almost killed when he attempted to save the girls but instead stabbed T-Ray in the head with a katana ("forged by the same guy who made the one on Heroes").[1]

Providence was attacked by the Hecatomb, and Deadpool came to help. He arrived too late to fight the alien, but was able to help Cable to fight off the Marauders. In the end, Deadpool realized Cable wouldn't trust him with important tasks, and was sent home alone while Cable seemingly perished with Providence. Deadpool went to Rumekistan to pay his final respects to Cable, and while he was there, was asked to stop Wolverine from destroying a Hydra base. Minutes before Wolverine found Weasel at the base, Wade found him in a suit capable of teleportation, calling himself the "Penetraitor". Quickly decapitating Deadpool, Wolverine began to kill the Hydra agents, leaving ones that were strapped into suits similar to the Penetraitor's. They activated the suits to escape, but disappeared. Weasel explained that they were rigged to send the users to Guantanamo Bay, and Bob was able to reattach Deadpool’s head. Bob, Weasel, and Wade returned to Rumekistan to finish paying their final respects, when Deadpool and Bob disappeared in a flash of light due to the now damaged suit Weasel wore.[18]

They appeared in Europe, circa World War II, where they encountered Captain America and Bucky, aiding them in their quest to defeat Arnim Zola and his creations. Time-slips created problems during the trip, and Cap and Bucky once forgot who Bob and Deadpool were, attacking them. The time-slips were created by Weasel's efforts to return them to the present. Eventually two teams of the Fantastic Four were able to return them to the present.[19]

Deadpool went on several missions for Dr Strange, patching the mystical hole he created in T-Ray's head by stabbing other mystical creatures with the same sword. The final act to seal the rift was to find T-Ray's soul and bring him back to life. Wade reluctantly set out to do so, seeking help from Brother Voodoo along the way. T-Ray was eventually returned to life, and both realized they needed each other.[20]

Upon returning to Agency X headquarters, Irene Merryweather came asking for aid in locating a energy generator for Rumekistan which was based in the Savage Land. When arriving, the team encountered a mind controlled Ka-Zar, and had to fight the forces of Brainchild. During the conflict, Deadpool accidentally used Weasel's Penitraitor technology to warp some dinosaurs to the Latverian embassy in New York. So upon defeating Brainchild they had to return to New York to help the Avengers return the dinosaurs (who happened to be infected with symbiotes at the time). Deadpool saved the day by absorbing the consciousness of the symbiotes and killing himself (albeit briefly).[21]

Despite being hailed as something of a hero after the stunt with the symbiotes, Deadpool slipped easily back into his old ways when attempted to kill Wolverine. For once, Deadpool planned every stage of the attack, orchestrating a series of hits that came close to killing both of them. Just before Wolverine was to be drowned, Daken interfered, cutting off Wade's hands so that he could kill his father himself. Daken was shot with a carbonadium bullet by Bucky Barnes, who had originally hired Deadpool. The entire hit was planned by Wolverine so that he could capture his son, so Deadpool received no money.[22]

When the Skrull invasion began, Wade was held captive, and trained Skrulls to embrace insanity so as to better handle his abilities. He escaped when the Skrulls turned on one another and transmitted stolen intel files to Nick Fury (Wilson's real plan), which was intercepted by Norman Osborn, who lead the Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. Since Fury never received the data, Wilson went unpaid for his efforts.[23] After months of unemployment, Colonel Zeke hired him to kill Doctor Druek Lovosno, who had kidnapped Zeke's wife. Deadpool found that Doctor Lovosno had found a way to preserve youth & beauty indefinitely, but they had to devour human flesh to do so. Wade was captured, meant to be a renewable source of food for the young zombies. Luckily he tasted terrible, so he was released after promising them the alternative of Zeke and his mercenaries, and blew up the castle they were in during the firefight.[24]

With no money left after the third unpaid job in a row, Deadpool had to steal away on a freighter bound for America. Mid-Atlantic, the ship was sunk by Tiger Shark tearing through the hull. He awoke on a beach in Mexico, missing an arm and with his costume in tatters, and planned to kill Tiger Shark while he recovered. Tiger Shark found him first, and tried to kill him with an oversized machete. The resulting fight brought the Mexican police, who shot and seemingly killed Wade while Tiger Shark escaped. He woke up to find himself in a body bag on a pier, which he felt was a nice change from waking up in a body bag in the morgue. Tiger Shark came out the water and attacked again when Bob appeared with his guns blazing. Tiger Shark dives back into the water, and after a couple hours of waiting for him to resurface, Bob and Deadpool retire to a motel. There, Bob reveals that he was sent to kill Deadpool, same as Tiger Shark (who was on his way to the room). Wade manages to shoot Tiger Shark through the motel window and interrogate Bob for the name of his employer, Norman Osborn. Norman was aware that the intel Wade unwillingly provided was the only reason he was put into a position of power, and wanted Deadpool eliminated to secure his position. Wade had no idea who Norman was.[25]

Wilson traveled back to New York with the idea that Osborn should have paid him for that intel he transmitted during the Secret Invasion, and attempted to break into the Avengers tower. Osborn had been ready for him with a trap, and sent the Thunderbolts to intercept him. Deadpool managed to disable all of the Thunderbolts with the exception of Black Widow, who he began to fall for. While professing his love, he was shot by Paladin and escaped. He teleported to the Taskmaster's 'Unoccupied office building' where he regrouped and got the bullets out of his body whilst telling "Tasky" about how much he adored Black Widow and his plan for two Deadpools.[26]

Hiring a plane to fly a banner professing his love for "BW" as well as his phone number, Taskmaster was able to pinpoint the call made to that number to find the Thunderbolt's headquarters. The Thunderbolts used the call to find Taskmaster's position as well, believing him to be Deadpool. As they left to intercept him, Deadpool called their number and flirted with Widow while he shot at them from the plane. Crashing the plane and losing that phone, he teleported back to Taskmaster to get a new phone before teleporting directly to her, since she wasn't with her team. While fighting and kissing her, he managed to ask Taskmaster (dressed as Deadpool) to stall her team while he spent time with her. After losing Rock-Paper-Scissors, Deadpool had to instead take care of the Thunderbolts while Taskmaster went after Black Widow. Taskmaster was captured by her, and was about to have his head cut off by Headsman when Wade rescued him. Osborn wanted to see Deadpool killed, and was in attendance when Taskmaster was about to have his head chopped, so Deadpool went after him after releasing Taskmaster. Wade nearly had Osborn when Black Widow shot him through the heart, enabling Headsman to cut off his head.[27]

Deadpool behind Norman Osborn

After recovering, Deadpool thanked Taskmaster for his help by paying him via ATM using Osborn's wallet. Taskmaster claimed he didn't put Wade's head back on, and Deadpool believed it was Widow's way of telling him she loved him back. He would later pop up behind Osborn during a national television appearance holding a sign that said, "Respawn lol".[27]

Out of work yet again, Wade posted his services on Craigslist. He was hired to kill a pizza boy for making fun of a girl in childhood. Wade managed to shoot him, then stealing all of the homeowner's possessions in the house he had broken into to order the pizza. While checking out the TV, he saw a news story where he was denounced as a traitor to the human race for joining the Skrulls. When he went to get the keys to the car in the garage, he was greeted by Hawkeye (really Bullseye) and eventually gets shot in the head with an arrow. Planning to grind him up so that he can't regenerate, Lester underestimated Wade's healing factor, and was surprised when Deadpool attacked. When Deadpool won the fight, Bullseye paid him to never tell anyone else.[28]

Wade used his new-found riches to buy a pirate boat, and as a short and very unsuccessful stint as a pirate, decided to become a hero instead.[29]

Deadpool... X-Man!!!

He made his way to Utopia to become an X-Man, and they quickly rejected him. Since they couldn't just let him go, they pretended to bring him in on a probationary membership under the watch of Domino. Deadpool tried to get in the X-Men's good graces by killing Mark Kincaid, who had been claiming that the X-Men had kidnapped his daughter and were holding her against her will (part of Norman Osborn's plot to weaken the X-Men). When his plan began to fall apart, Osborn instead tried to use the situation to further discredit the X-Men by killing Kincaid and blaming Deadpool (who had publicly and falsely claimed X-Men membership), but Deadpool had set everything up to make the X-Men heroes again in the eyes of the public. This allowed the X-Men to reluctantly give Wade full membership ever.[30]

He seemingly stayed on Utopia, and squatted Loa's quarters during Necrosha. When Loa was attacked by the Cortez, Delgado and Mellencamp, who were searching Magneto to kill him, Wade first intended to team-up with them, unknowing that Magneto was now an X-Man but was soon asked by Cyclops to battle them, without killing. He quickly realized (in disobeying) that wouldn't be a problem as the Acolytes were regenerated by the T-O virus. Severely beat up, he was saved by Loa, which powers revealed to be fatal to the returned, and Deadpool then used her as a projectile on them.[31]

Deadpool was recruited by an entity known as the Contemplator to save the Multiverse. To do this he would have to assemble a team of alternate universe Deadpools. He visited a string of universes where his alternates were significantly different from him, recruiting Lady Deadpool, Kidpool, Dogpool, and Headpool along the way. With his team assembled, he revealed his plan to save the multiverse to them.[32][33]

X-Force

Deadpool's X-Force costume.

Deadpool joined Wolverine and Archangel's Black Ops X-Force team to proactively eliminate threats to the mutant race with the only rule being that no one, not even the X-Men, could ever know that they exist.[34] After one of their first missions, which ended with the team killing Apocalypse, who was reincarnated as an innocent child, Deadpool called a meeting to discuss his moral doubts about killing a child. During this meeting, Archangel told Wolverine that, despite being employed by Archangel for over a year, Deadpool never cashed any of the checks for his services.[35] Later, in the Deathlok team-up, X-Force was taken into The World to look for the origin of the mind-controlled army. There was also some bad tension between Deadpool and Fantomex, which leads to them going different ways. Deadpool ends up being the one to kill the world Father by cutting his head off then putting a sword through it to show the rest of the team. Fantomex is surprised, and they leave in silence.

During the invasion of the Serpent and his Worthy, Deadpool attempted to cash in on the fear that was running rampant throughout the world. To this end, he stole a magic hammer belonging to a pair of werewolf hunters, and then gave it to the dimwitted Walrus, convincing the hapless Mort that he'd been chosen to serve as one of the Worthy. His plan was to send the Walrus rampaging through the town of Cimarron, New Mexico, and then show up and "rescue" the town and collect a hefty fee. The hammer, however, proved to have the ability to negate Deadpool's healing factor during a full moon, and what should have been an easy fight proved nearly fatal. Initially, he tried to run away, but was confronted by the werewolf hunters, who informed him that the hammer was needed to stop an impending attack by a pack of werewolves. Convinced of the necessity of retrieving the hammer, Deadpool returned to town, and tricked the Walrus into entering the sheriff's office, thus taking it out of the light of the full moon and deactivating its powers. He then promptly shot the Walrus in the shoulder, took back the hammer, and effectively saved the town, though he found to his dismay that the town's cache of Confederate gold had long ago been stolen, and thus they could not pay him for his efforts.

The Best There Is

Deadpool in space!

After defeating the intergalactic mercenary, Macho Gomez, Deadpool went in a space odyssey where he saved two civilizations (the Urrulians, and the remains of the Ongulians) and killed Id, the Selfish Moon of Ego. After coming back to Earth, he fought the vengeful Blind Al, Weasel, Taskmaster, Big Bertha and Sluggo, under the leadership of Macho. After a drawn out fight and killing Sluggo, Wade paused and asked his so-thought friends "Is this what you want?!" After which they proceeded to shoot him until he lost consciousness. Thanks to his healing factor, Deadpool recovered. After talking with Bob about how he treats his friends, Wade realizes what he truly wants is to die.

Institutionalized

Deadpool in Crossmore.

Unsuccessfully committing suicide, surviving atomic bombs, and battling the Hulk, Wade is sent to the English prison of Crossmore, where he meets doctor Ellen Whitby, who had been secretly obsessed with him for several years. Out of a one-sided love, she helped him escape. Despite this, Wade rejects her for being completely insane. After leaving he is encounters the local law enforcement which inadvertently leads to Wade taking the Queen of England hostage. After having a talk with the Queen, she convinces Deadpool that Whitby is his responsibility. After going to her apartment, he finds many of his own severed body parts in the fridge. After confronting Whitby she kills herself, and Wade throws the frozen body parts in a dumpster and leaves. Afterward, the parts thaw and heal together to form an even more deformed and very sadistic clone of Deadpool.

Evil Deadpool

Battling Evil Deadpool.

Both Deadpools managed to get to New Jersey on their own. Wade met Evil Deadpool at his favorite chimichanga restaurant, which Evil Deadpool blew up. After a long fight and running out of bullets, the Deadpools agree to meet and fight at Canarsie Park. After another fight and another explosion, Evil Deadpool escapes while Wade is confronted by Captain America and then escapes. Meanwhile, Evil Deadpool goes to Mister Negative to ask him for a job (murdering a police chief's children). After careful contemplation of Evil Deadpool's next move, he decides that his motivation must be to one-up the original Deadpool. After some planning, Wade proceeds to publicly kidnap a random child in hope that this would draw out Evil Deadpool.

However, Evil Deadpool had already predicted this and kidnaps the police chief's children and sends a message to the parents that he had done so (leading to the chief to believe the real Deadpool had kidnapped his children), and then takes out Captain America who had been watching Wade (and knew that Wade was never anywhere near those children). After Cap recovers and Interpol becomes involved, Cap informs the chief that Deadpool couldn't have kidnapped his children and so all are led to believe he has an accomplice. After some time passes, Wade realizes that he has been played, frees the child and escapes. Using a teleportation device, Evil Deadpool lures the police chief and Deadpool into a trap to make it appear that Deadpool had killed the chief and his children, this fails however and the chief escapes with his children. Evil Deadpool then explains to Wade that his motivations were to show him that no matter what good he accomplishes people will only ever see him as a monster.

Just then, Captain America and the police arrive at the scene and tell both to stand down. Evil Deadpool raises his weapon at them and is shot down in a hail of bullets. After he is down, it is seen that he was hit with a special dart that none of the police claim to have fired, and all of Evil Deadpool's scars fade until he appears a regular human and dies. After witnessing that there is a way to kill him, Wade steals Evil Deadpool's teleportation device and escapes.

Search for death and powerless

Wade Wilson is cured.

Wilson started a plan to get the serum used to neutralize Evil Deadpool's healing factor, so he could finally be with his beloved Death. With the help of Bob, he manipulates X-Force, the Kingpin and the Hand, Daken and Tombstone (who had the serum made in the beginning). Deadpool pitted X-Force against Typhoid Mary and the Hand (believing Kingpin was in possession of the serum). Meanwhile Daken stole a sample of the serum from Tombstone which he later used to shoot Wolverine.

In the midst of the chaos, Deadpool was injected with another sample of the serum by Bob (which he got from Tombstone after conspiring with him against Wade), who was then angered after finding out that Wade had planned for this all along. Wade then went to X-Force to learn that the serum was made specifically for his DNA, and thus had no effect on Wolverine. After learning that everything was planned by Wade, X-Force too was angered and decided to kill Wade after he had escaped from them. After fighting and escaping from Tombstone, Wade was confronted by an angry Bob. After this (and seeing that his deformities were cured by the serum) Wade resolved not to die. Later, the two confronted X-Force. After making amends, they let Wade leave to help the injured Bob.

After he lost his healing factor, Wilson claimed he felt "more alive than ever." However, after a harsh beating from Intelligencia Wade realized that he had let his ability to heal compensate for skill so he decided to ask for help with Taskmaster in training. Taskmaster asked Wilson to help him steal Pym Particles from S.H.I.E.L.D., but actually he allowed Black Box to study Wade in order to prepare his vengeance against Wilson, even letting him know Deadpool lost his healing factor.

Wade managed to defeat the villains recruited by Black Box, Black Tom and Black Swan, but in the process his face was burned and disfigured again. Former FBI agent Allison Kemp wanted to get revenge on Deadpool because of his involvement in an accident which left her in a wheelchair, and she called other nemeses of Deadpool such as T-Ray and Slayback and trained them in order to kill the merc. Deadpool infiltrated their base and managed to get T-Ray and Slayback killed. When Kemp was about to kill herself in a explosion, which would also kill Wade in the process, he convinced her not to. In that moment, he was surprised by the returned Evil Deadpool, who informed Wade that the serum they took was not permanent, the reason why Wade's face didn't heal or a finger he lost grew back, so Wade would return after Evil Deadpool shot him.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

After being hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to destroy zombie presidents,[36] the magician Michael, who unintentionally caused the zombie attack, transferred the mind of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Emily Preston into a portion of Deadpool's brain in order to prevent her death.[37]

Later, Deadpool was abducted to North Korea by the Butler.[38] The Butler revealed to Wade their shared past, and also that he had taken Deadpool's lost daughter, Eleanor, prisoner after Wade quit his program.[10] With the help of Preston's consciousness, Captain America, and Wolverine, Deadpool managed to free all the prisoners from the North Korean camp, as he also killed the Butler. Although his daughter could be alive, Deadpool decided not to try to reach her, in order to prevent himself from ruining her life.[10]

Engaged

Shortly after placing Preston's consciousness into a LMD modeled after her,[39] Deadpool was hired by Dracula to deliver his future bride to him while fighting various demonic creatures. This bride was Shiklah, the evil queen of the undead. Though the two fought, they eventually got engaged, effectively stealing Dracula's bride,[40] and later married.[41]

Shortly after, Deadpool managed to track down and reunite with his lost daughter Ellie Camacho.[42]

As Zenpool

AXIS

As part of his plan to stop the recently-unleashed Red Onslaught, Magneto recruited Deadpool into an army of super-villains to help the heroes fight the Onslaught in Genosha.[43] This team successfully turned the tide of the battle against the Red Onslaught and his Stark Sentinels in favor of the heroes, and allowed the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom to cast an inversion spell to alter the axis of the Onslaught's brain.[44]

However, the spell affected all those present in the island, including Deadpool, who had his pacifist personality take control of his mind and body, and become the Zenpool.[43] When Wade discovered Evan Sabahnur had become Apocalypse and was planning on detonating a gene bomb to kill everyone who wasn't a mutant on the planet, Wade tried to convince him into becoming good again, and also helped the Astonishing Avengers stop the inverted X-Men.[45]

After much effort, Wade managed to convince Apocalypse into helping him prevent the Axis from killing the White Skull (the inverted counterpart of the Red Skull). After Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch managed to cast a reinversion spell, Wade returned to his Deadpool persona.[46] However, as an after effect of the reinversion spell, Wade regained his conscience.[47]

Death

In retaliation for destroying their helicarrier and slaughtering countless agents,[48] U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. tried to have revenge by killing Deadpool's family and friends. After their attempt failed, Wade put together a plan to deal with U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. once and for all, successfully retaliating and murdering all of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.'s agents. Subsequently, Wade decided to give up his life as Deadpool. As he was celebrating the start of a new life with his friends and family, an incursion between Earth-616 and the Earth-1610 caused the collision and destruction of both universe's planets Earth, with Deadpool and his allies dying in the process.[49]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Enhanced Physiology: Most of Deadpool's powers come from the experimentations he was submitted to by the Weapon X program.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Deadpool possesses a superhuman healing factor derived from that of the mutant Wolverine that allows him to regenerate damaged or destroyed bodily tissue with far greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Deadpool is able to heal from injuries such as slashes, puncture wounds, bullet wounds, beheading, and severe burns within moments. His healing factor is significantly more powerful than Wolverines as he can regrow missing limbs and organs and was able to recover after the Hulk liquidated everything from his waist up. His head or any other limb can be reattached using this ability, but has to be placed in the proper place.[50] Even though being beheaded, Deadpool can still move his body normally.[51] Additionally, Deadpool can secretly use his healing factor as a tactical advantage against enemies. As he puts it, his healing factor "isn't exactly common knowledge." [52] As Deadpool had cancer at the time of the gene therapy which endowed him with these abilities, it bound to the "healing factor" so that in a sense the cancer is his healing factor, which is why his skin is still horribly scarred. Unlike Wolverine's natural healing factor, Deadpool's is mentally driven to a partial extent.

Foreign Chemical Resistance: Deadpool's body is highly resistant to most drugs and toxins. For example, it is extremely difficult, though not impossible, for him to become intoxicated (Blind Al made several references to Deadpool being hung-over since he once drunkenly spoke to the Telletubbies on the TV he was watching). He can, however, be affected by certain drugs, such as tranquilizers, if he is exposed to a large enough dosage.

Disease Immunity: The unique regenerative qualities of Deadpool's healing factor also extend to his immune system, rendering him immune to the effects of all known diseases and infections.

Immortality: Deadpool's healing factor provides him with an extended lifespan by slowing the effects of the aging process to an unknown degree. His life span is extended to such a degree, that an alternate reality version of him was alive and still in business as Deadpool 800 years in the future.[53] Deadpool has established a relationship with the personification of Death and as a result has been cursed by Thanos, to be unable to die.

Possession Resistance: Similar to the telepathic immunity, Deadpool is able to remain in partial control of himself while supernatural beings are trying to take control of him. During Xaphan's attempt to take control of him, Wade was able to fight for control of his body.[citation needed] Because half of his soul is owned by Satana by rules of marriage, no one can touch his soul.[citation needed] Deadpool even remembers Spider-Man unmasking as Peter Parker during the Civil War,[citation needed] even though Mephisto erased that event.

Superhuman Strength: Deadpool is rated as having a superhuman level of strength capable of lifting 2 tons on the Marvel Strength Scale.

Superhuman Speed: Deadpool has superhuman speed thanks to Weapon X, but he sometimes relies on his teleportation device.

Superhuman Stamina: Deadpool's musculature generates considerably less fatigue toxins than the muscles of an ordinary human being, granting him superhuman levels of stamina in all physical activities. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for several days before boredom or stress takes over, and could have possibly gone on further.

Superhuman Agility: Deadpool's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Reflexes: His reflexes are similarly enhanced, superior to those of even the finest human athlete.

Abilities

Master Martial Artist: Deadpool is an extraordinary hand-to-hand combatant and is a master in multiple unarmed combat techniques. He has been shown fighting such amazingly skilled fighters as Wolverine and Taskmaster and even defeating them in hand to hand combat.[57] This shows that Deadpool himself is among the most skilled fighters in the Marvel universe, although in some fights it has been attributed to him being unpredictable because of his insanity.

Master Assassin: He is a master of assassination techniques, espionage methods, covert operations, infiltration methods, escape artistry, marksmanship, and is highly skilled with many bladed weapons (frequently carrying two swords strapped to his back), and a number of other weapons including firearms.

Medium Awareness: Possibly as a result of his mental state, he is aware that he is a fictional comic book character allowing him to break the Fourth wall.

Unpredictability: It is difficult for anyone to know what Deadpool will do at any given moment, given that he himself barely knows what he'll do at any given moment. This makes it difficult for most opponents to predict what he will do.

Strength level

Deadpool possesses great, though not unnatural, physical strength. He does possesses the strength of an Olympic level weightlifter. While the exact amount of weight he can lift isn't known, he is able to lift at least 420 lbs. His true upper limit is unknown, but due to his mutant heritage, it should be somewhere around 1400 lbs, and he would only have to stop there due to his forearms breaking under the weight. To date, Deadpool has lifted up to 800 lbs.[citation needed]

Weaknesses

Mental state: His healing abilities render his brain unreadable to telepaths, but its constant healing also makes him highly unstable and prone to violent outbursts without the slightest provocation, at least against those he knows could handle. Even with his healing factor, Deadpool can still feel pain from damages taken. It has been shown that Deadpool's condition may not be the source of his instability, it only makes it worse. In several flashbacks to his childhood he was still shown to be unhinged, and the fact that curing his condition did not make him any saner. He also has ADHD.[citation needed]

Annoying: Wade's mental state has also proven to make him a very irritating person to be around with other people. Many heroes often find themselves at wits' end around him; this makes for poor ability to cooperate with him in team efforts. [citation needed]

Cure for Cancer: Wade's healing factor was specifically designed to replace his bodies cells as fast as they were being destroyed by his illness. Until recently when both his healing factor and illness were removed, should his cancer be cured then his healing factor would be rapidly producing redundant new cells. Which if left unchecked would cause horrible growths over the body and would eventually explode, as demonstrated on the Super Skrulls with Deadpool's powers. [citation needed]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Image Inducer: Deadpool had access to an holographic image inducer that he can use to disguise his true appearance as necessary. [citation needed]

Transportation

Teleportation Device: Deadpool has utilized different teleportation devices to whisk him out of (and occasionally into) danger. Deadpool was able to 'bodyslide' to wherever Cable is present, through Providence. At different periods Deadpool has possessed different teleportation technologies which he sometimes uses for combat. [citation needed]

Weapons

Other Weapons: Deadpool employs any number of weapons depending on his current assignments. Most often, Deadpool uses guns, grenades, sai, knives. Wade can use any weapon known to man and can learn how to use the weapon in less than five minutes than anyone else. Wade is mainly seen using a gun or a sharp object. Deadpool's magic satchel allows him to often pull weapons out of nowhere.[citation needed] The satchel contains all of Deadpool's unlimited weaponry and ammo. [citation needed]

Personality

Deadpool is very comedic, although this appears to be due to the fact he is apparently insane. Deadpool used to present a morally grey personality, with no problem of disregarding other people. However, as an after effect of the inversion spell, Wade regained his conscience, to the point of even feeling bad for somebody being verbally abused.[47]

Deadpool has friends, such as Weasel and Blind Al, that he was loyal to and cared about. Due to his insanity, however, he would mistreat them at times, such as stabbing Weasel in the leg over the last Cheesy Puff[citation needed] or confining Blind Al in a room filled with sharp objects.[citation needed]

Deadpool and the narration boxes having a "conversation"

"Chimichanga"

Deadpool commonly develops obsessions with words and people, repeatedly mentioning the words duodenum[citation needed] and chimichanga,[citation needed] the phrase "Sphincter says what?",[60] and is frequently preoccupied by thoughts of Bea Arthur[61][62] and the Olsen Twins.[60]

Trivia

His healing factor causes his brain cells to be in a constant state of flux and regeneration, rendering him immune to psychics.[citation needed] This constant flux is not what causes him to have his witty banter and ADD-type personality. "That's just the way I am, bitch!" as Deadpool once put it.[citation needed]

Deadpool became one of the villains sent to find the so-called Identity Disc possessed by A.I.M..[65]

According to the villainous Taskmaster, whose abilities allowed him to analyze and copy the mercenary's fighting style, Deadpool always dodges to the left.[citation needed]

Apparently, Deadpool's favorite food is chimichangas, which are deep-fried burritos popular in the Southwest and Mexico. He has stated that he likes them because of their long-worded name.[citation needed]

Deadpool was cursed for a short time by Loki,[citation needed] who had claimed to be his father.[citation needed] The curse made him look like Tom Cruise, rendered his face totally invulnerable, and caused his life to "fall to ruin."[citation needed] The curse was removed when Deadpool reconciled with his true father, who he met in a bar without ever realizing who it was.[citation needed] This seems to contradict an issue of "Cable & Deadpool" when a conversation between Cable and Deadpool about their pasts and parents, Deadpool's father is shown dying when he was a teenager, however when questioned on the truth of the story by Cable, Deadpool responds, "I'll tell you the truth when you tell me."[citation needed]

Deadpool's speech and thought balloons and captions are usually colored yellow, to represent his distinctive voice (although nobody knows exactly what is distinctive about his voice, only that it sounds different). Cable of Earth-5701 has described his voice as having a "gravelly, Demi Moore" quality before "killing" him.[citation needed] Blind Al has also stated that Deadpool's voice sounds like a distinct mixture of "gasoline and gravel."[citation needed] In his earliest appearances, his speech balloons were normal balloons with red borders[citation needed] (soon changed to yellow borders); in later appearances, the interior would be colored yellow and the text would be written in a slightly mangled font. Voice acting for the character, meanwhile, shows that Deadpool has a voice that is somewhat shrieky and coarse.[citation needed]

Deadpool is one of the few Marvel comic book characters that have broken the "fourth wall" and called attention to his nature as a comic book character.[citation needed]

During Deadpool's adventure to save the multiverse from the Awareness, it was revealed that his worst fear is to be truly and utterly alone.[citation needed]

Deadpool's name IS Wade Wilson,[citation needed] as that's the name he used to sign up with the army.[citation needed] However, due to both T-Ray and Deadpool being insane, neither's word can actually be trusted. In Deadpool's words, "It depends on which writer you liked best."[citation needed] Because of this, Deadpool's identity is secret despite everyone knowing that he is Wade Wilson.

The X-Man Gambit has such respect for Deadpool's fighting abilities that he once paid him off rather than risk battling him, admitting that fighting Deadpool is tantamount to suicide.[citation needed]

Domino once said that Deadpool's most lethal weapon is his mouth. He will blabber nonsense during the whole fight, distracting and maiming the opponent until the latter "surrenders or commits suicide."[citation needed]

Deadpool thinks that his best friend is Wolverine,[citation needed] which of course couldn't be further from the truth. His real best friend is Hydra Agent Bob.[citation needed]

Many people confuse Deadpool and Spider-Man due to the similarities between their costumes:[66][citation needed]

Deadpool has bovinophobia, which is the fear of cows. According to him, cows "scare the *#$% outta" him, as he believes their stare to be chilling, like they're "waiting".[citation needed] He may also be scared of chickens, just like Domino is, however this may also have been an attempt to find common ground with her, as he was later able to put one in her path to stop her.[68]

Deadpool has stated that due to his mask and disfigured face it is hard for him to enter public places.[citation needed] One place he stated is Taco Bell.[citation needed]

Wade is bad at shaving, considering that he hasn't had facial hair to shave for a long time.[69]

Deadpool's childhood hero is Captain America,[70] although their views differed. Strangely, Deadpool had no problem with taking on Captain America, even slashing him with a blade.[71]

Every woman that seems interested in Deadpool has something wrong with her.[citation needed] Darlene tried to trick Deadpool into murdering the Sheriff and his gang to cover up her operation.[citation needed] Dr. Ellen Whitby was obsessed with him, even collecting his body parts.[citation needed] When Domino flirted with him, she was usually setting him up.[citation needed]

Deadpool's handwriting

Elektra stated Deadpool has a lovely handwriting, to which he replied "Thank you, Elektra. I think it's a crime the way schools today neglect the fundamental."[72]

Deadpool's white caption box introduced in Deadpool Vol 2 was later revealed to be Madcap, who had fused with the mercenary on a molecular level after an accident. Under similar circumstances to their fusion, they were later separated.[73]